OpinionHong Kong’s Election Committee: with great power comes great responsibility – can members deliver?

Name: Hong Kong's revamped electoral system bolsters pro-Beijing influence in key decision-making bodies
Uploaded: 2021-09-19T22:15:08.000Z
Duration: 5 min 10 s
Description: Hong Kong's revamped electoral system bolsters pro-Beijing influence in key decision-making bodies

As the centre of political power in Hong Kong, the Election Committee and its members are expected to become more vocal, especially about the chief executive’s policies

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The fifth sector of the Election Committee, comprising Hong Kong deputies to the National People’s Congress and Hong Kong members of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, hold a press conference at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai on September 9. Photo: Nora Tam

Alice Wu

Published: 6:15am, 20 Sep 2021

It was all quiet on the polling front in Hong Kong yesterday. The Election Committee elections came and went almost unnoticed. Yes, there were banners hung on the streets. And there was a bizarre incident just over a week ago when a woman snatched a stack of fliers promoting the new and improved electoral arrangements from lawmaker Eunice Yung Hoi-yan, who was passing them out on the streets.

But there hasn’t been much to watch, and we can’t blame it on Covid-19. For ordinary folk without the special privilege of being among the 4,889 eligible electors in yesterday’s election, it was surreal, at best.

For months, we have been told that the revamped Election Committee is the centrepiece of the new and improved political system that Beijing has tailor-made for Hong Kong – the anchor that would ensure political and social stability.

Originally, the Election Committee’s role was expected to be downgraded: from selecting the chief executive to nominating chief executive candidates to be elected by the people.

Yet, it has gone from becoming a political relic to being the centre of political power. Now, it will not only nominate and select the chief executive, it will nominate Legislative Council candidates and has the political privilege to elect 40 lawmakers.

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Hong Kong's revamped electoral system bolsters pro-Beijing influence in key decision-making bodies

That’s 40 out of the 90 seats in the new Legco – twice the number to be directly elected by voters in geographical constituencies, and 10 more than the indirectly elected functional constituency seats.

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} As the centre of political power in Hong Kong, the Election Committee and its members are expected to become more vocal, especially about the chief executive’s policies

As the centre of political power in Hong Kong, the Election Committee and its members are expected to become more vocal, especially about the chief executive’s policies